Hello TUXEDO Fans and Open-Source Enthusiasts!
Artificial intelligence is supposed to help with programming – but what happens when a project wants to detect AI-generated contributions as reliably as possible? In NetworkManager, the developers have come up with an unusual trick: a hidden instruction asks AI agents to include the unusual word „biblioklept“ in their contributions.
The word serves as a canary, meaning a deliberately placed marker that can be used for detection. If it appears in commit messages, merge requests, or review responses, it can be detected automatically that an AI agent followed the instructions. Phoronix reports in detail on the unusual approach and the project’s underlying AI policy.
Without AI, this issue also takes a look at Audacity 4.0 and its completely redesigned Qt-based interface. We also show you how to set up an animated audio visualizer on your TUXEDO OS desktop with Plasma Audio Visualizer and explore the widget’s options for displaying music.
Enjoy reading,The TUXEDO OS Team
Note: With the TWIX series, we keep you up to date with the latest developments around TUXEDO OS. We also introduce interesting applications and share practical tips and tricks for the KDE desktop and TUXEDO OS. At the same time, TWIX thrives on your feedback. We always welcome your suggestions, topic ideas, and proposals for improvement. Feel free to join the discussion in our TWIX thread on Reddit , where you can reach us directly. Of course, you are also welcome to contact us via any of our other social media channels.
Updates in TUXEDO OS
Plasma 6.6.6
VSCodium 1.135.06055
Firefox 2:155.0.1~tux1
KDE App of the Week: Audacity 4.0 Now Based on Qt
With Audacity 4.0 , the popular free audio editor receives a comprehensive overhaul. The most noticeable change is the completely redesigned interface based on Qt. Among other things, this is intended to ensure that Audacity scales cleanly on high-resolution displays. At the same time, audio clip editing has been fundamentally rethought.
Instead of switching between different tool modes, clips can now be selected and edited directly. Multiple clips can be selected together, moved, trimmed, or resized using time stretching. Clips can also be grouped and then moved, copied, or duplicated together. Moving clips between mono and stereo tracks is also supported.
The new version 4.0 of Audacity can be conveniently used under TUXEDO OS as an AppImage – without installation and independently of the system libraries.
The new version also introduces a dedicated tool for splitting clips. With the S key held down, you can click directly in the waveform or on the clip header. Additional commands allow you to split clips at silent sections or move a split section to a new track, for example.
Workspaces to Suit Your Needs
The interface can also be customized much more extensively to suit your own needs. Toolbars and panels can be moved, docked, or positioned freely, as well as shown or hidden. Your layout can be saved as a Workspace . Audacity already includes the Modern , Classic , and Music workspaces.
Curious? What does the new Audacity 4.0 interface look like in practice? The official release video demonstrates the most important new features in action. It shows, among other things, the new clip editing model, the redesigned interface, workspaces, and improvements to effects and audio editing.
Audacity 4.0 also includes light, dark, and high-contrast themes, accent and track colors, as well as different clip display options. A new start screen shows recently used projects with thumbnails. The controls for tracks and effects have also been standardized: parameters are adjusted using rotary knobs that can be fine-tuned and reset with a double-click.
By switching to the Qt framework, Audacity 4.0 now offers a wide range of themes and flexible workspaces, making it much easier to adapt the application to personal preferences.
Playback and recording have also received several improvements. The playhead remains visible while navigating and can be dragged directly to another position. Recordings can start at any point on the timeline and create a new clip there. Loop playback, Punch and Roll, latency compensation, and software monitoring have also been revised.
New Project Format
Audacity 4.0 also introduces the new .aup4 project format. Projects from Audacity 3 in the .aup3 format can still be opened and, if necessary, converted to the new format. The original .aup3 project remains intact. However, a converted project cannot be saved back as .aup3 .
If you want to exchange projects between Audacity 3 and 4, you should therefore keep a copy of the old project before converting it. In addition to the audio data, the new project file contains additional information, such as thumbnails and data used to display clips and the interface.
Not Yet Fully Complete
However, Audacity 4.0 does not yet match the 3.x series in terms of features in every area. Time tracks, MIDI/note tracks, the mixer, the Macro Manager including the Scripting Pipe, as well as VAMP and LADSPA plugin hosting are currently missing. Some export and rendering functions, analysis tools, and effects are also not yet available.
The developers plan to add these features in upcoming releases. For many typical tasks involving voice recordings, podcasts, music, and audio editing, Audacity 4 already offers a comprehensive feature set. It supports VST3 and Nyquist, as well as LV2 additionally on Linux.
Installing on TUXEDO OS
For TUXEDO OS, the Audacity AppImage is currently the most convenient option. It is a self-contained software package that already includes the required files and does not need to be installed through the traditional package manager. This makes it possible to try Audacity 4 independently of the installed system version.
Setting it up with Gear Lever is particularly convenient. The free application manages AppImages and can, among other things, add them to the desktop’s application menu. After downloading the Audacity AppImage, you can add it to Gear Lever and then launch it like a regularly installed application.
The AppImage is also a good choice if you want to try Audacity 4 first without replacing an existing Audacity installation. If you still need to work on projects with Audacity 3, you can use both versions in parallel. Nevertheless, you should create a backup before converting .aup3 projects.
Info: Are you interested in Plasma development and want to know what new features are planned and which programs have been recently updated? You can find a detailed overview in the weekly column This week in Plasma by KDE developer Nate Graham.
TUXEDO OS Tips & Tricks: Plasma Audio Visualizer
The Plasma Audio Visualizer lets you enhance your KDE Plasma desktop with an animated audio visualizer. The widget uses the cross-platform audio visualizer CAVA to display the currently playing music directly on your desktop as animated bars, waveforms, or geometric patterns.
The Plasma Audio Visualizer brings your desktop to life and displays currently playing music as animated bars and waveforms.
In addition to bars and waveforms, the Plasma Audio Visualizer offers numerous other visualization styles, including circular visualizations and geometric shapes.
Less
The current version includes numerous smaller improvements and new visualization options. In addition to the existing visualizations, the Wave style now also supports squares and triangles. The widget also supports CAVA’s new Waveform mode and can display the waveform inside a circle.
The various visualization modes are particularly interesting. Bars and blocks, for example, can be arranged in a circular pattern. You can customize colors, spacing, and other parameters to suit your preferences. Some options are automatically disabled depending on the selected visualization style if they are not supported.
Installing on TUXEDO OS
You need CAVA first to use the widget. Under TUXEDO OS, you can conveniently install the required software via the terminal:
sudo apt install cava qt6-websockets-dev python3-websocketsYou can then install the widget directly through the Plasma widget selection:
Right-click on the desktop.
Select Enter Edit Mode .
Open Add or Manage Widgets … .
Click Get New … and then Download New Plasma Widgets .
Search for Audio Visualizer .
Install the Plasma Audio Visualizer and then add it to your desktop.
You can find the project’s source code on GitHub .
Ubuntu Security Updates
The Ubuntu security updates listed here are generally incorporated directly into TUXEDO OS. Some updates are only available from Ubuntu for a fee and are therefore not made available to the community until a later date. Unfortunately, we have no control over this:
USN-8747–1: Beets vulnerability
USN-8745–1: KissFFT vulnerabilities
USN-8748–1: Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
USN-8744–1: Python vulnerabilities
USN-8743–1: PHP vulnerabilities
USN-8737–2: GNU C Library vulnerabilities
USN-8742–1: Netty vulnerability
USN-8741–1: Flatpak vulnerabilities
USN-8740–1: .NET vulnerabilities
USN-8732–1: Minetest vulnerability
USN-8731–1: MiniUPnPd vulnerability
USN-8729–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
USN-8728–1: Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
USN-8726–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
